Something Grand To Work Towards

Before I was able to become a believer in God and have a purposeful life, I needed the answer to one question: What will happen to me when I die? Will I disappear? Will I be reborn as someone else, with no memory of this life? Or will I still be ME, with my personality, my consciousness and my memories intact? Until I had a satisfactory answer, my life was a meaningless round of eating, sleeping (mostly insomnia), shopping for clothes, working to earn money, and stress-filled relationships.

In 1977, aged 31, I discovered through reading The Urantia Book that I would continue to be ME after I died. When I KNEW that to be true deep inside my soul everything changed.

Suddenly my life had meaning and purpose. I now had a DIRECTION to live in--from where I found myself at that moment all the way into Paradise, even if it took four hundred billion years to get there. I began to see things in a universe framework. I went from living in a one-dimensional world to a multi- dimensional world, from black and white to color, from a world populated not only by humans but angels and hosts of other friendly beings who were here to help show the way. Studying our planetary history revealed how I had come to this point through the doings of my ancestors, knowing about the mansion worlds was like an exciting travel brochure depicting where I was going immediately after this life, and learning of our eternal destiny gave me something grand to work towards.

Discovering Jesus and his teachings taught me that God was a friend I could talk to, who understood me even when others didn't. I learned that being kind to others has eternal value, that such actions are the building blocks of the spiritual universe. Nice guys DIDN'T always finish last, as I had previously believed! I began to learn to tolerate people who irritated me, to see their viewpoint instead of mine. I could now cultivate the things that I knew I could take with me into the next life instead of worrying about how big my wardrobe was. I went from anxiety-filled nights to resting peacefully. (I still have insomnia but now I can contemplate the stupendous universe instead of worrying about eternal oblivion.)

The fact that I would continue to know the people I loved after this life added depth to my relationships. I felt a new closeness to ALL my earth brothers and sisters – one day in the distant future we would be able to look back on our Urantia experience as having survived a shipwreck or a plane crash together. I began to see this life as an opportunity to help each other cope with the disaster, and view it with a sense of humor.

Through the information in The Urantia Book I gained hope, strength, security, peace of mind, and the comfort that comes from knowing we are not expected to be perfect YET, as long as we strive to be perfect.